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By Wiebe van der Sluis
Those who believe that hatching eggs artificially is an invention of the 20thcentury are wrong. The first eggs hatched without the help of mother hen dates back at least till the Pharaoh’s time. During those days in ancient Egypt fertile eggs were collected and hatched in caves. Most of the time the hatchery manager was a man of high age who learned from his father how to control the incubation process. Generations after generations have transferred the technique so up till today we can learn how they managed to maximise chick output at the lowest possible cost.
When travelling through Egypt you still may find a number of these prehistoric hatcheries. One of them can be found in Fayum, a place which during the Roman times was known to be the breadbasket of Egypt. Cereals and cotton were and still are the main products. Besides crop production the oasis also received a reputation of being the ancient centre of poultry breeding. The Fayumi chicken breed is known for laying a high number of eggs no matter whether it was winter or summer. It is an early maturing bird with an impressive heat resistance.
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